Chelsea moves six points clear

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Chelsea scored three first half goals and beat struggling
Norwich 4-0 today to move six points clear at the top of the
Premier League.

Damien Duff, Frank Lampard and Arjen Robben put Jose Mourinho's
Blues in control at Stamford Bridge and substitute Didier Drogba
headed a fourth near the end to complete an easy victory.

With second place Everton held 0-0 at struggling Blackburn, the
result meant that Chelsea, which has 43 points from 18 games,
increased its big lead.

It also meant that defending champion Arsenal, which visits
Portsmouth on Sunday, is now eight points behind the Blues in the
title race and two behind Everton while Manchester United remained
in contention after a 5-2 beating of Crystal Palace.

"At this moment, I don't think anybody is better than us,"
Mourinho said after his team's 13th league victory. "A better team
than us can stop us but if we keep our mental, tactical and
physical condition, nobody can stop us.

"Maybe Arsenal or Manchester United can jump to a different
level or maybe we can slide into a lower level. But, at this
moment, we feel strong and we are ready for the fight."

There were other one-sided games in the Premier League.

Paul Scholes scored twice to make it six goals in six games as
Manchester United outplayed Palace at Old Trafford even though Ian
Dowie's men twice equalised.

Wayne Rooney missed a penalty but Alan Smith, John O'Shea and an
own goal by Palace defender Emerson Boyce made sure Alex Ferguson
men stay in the hunt, although they remain nine points behind
Chelsea.

England striker Jermain Defoe scored a hat-trick as Tottenham
crushed Harry Redknapp's Southampton 5-1 to win for the fourth time
in a row.

"We just keep making mistakes and giving goals away," Redknapp
said after his second game in charge. "We made elementary defensive
errors that cost us the game. We've won only two games all season
and, looking at it today, you can see why."

Birmingham beat last place West Bromwich Albion 4-0 and
Middlesbrough made it six consecutive home victories by scoring a
3-0 victory over seventh place Aston Villa.

A rare goal by defender Joey Barton gave Manchester City a 1-0
victory at Bolton which has not won for seven league games and
slipped below City in the standings and into the bottom half.

Birmingham City won its second local derby in a row by crushing
West Brom to push the Baggies closer to relegation.

A week after winning 2-1 at sixth place Aston Villa, the Blues
raced into a 3-0 lead inside 30 minutes at St. Andrews through a
Robbie Savage penalty and goals by Clinton Morrison and Emile
Heskey. Near the end, a Darren Anderton free kick struck Heskey and
went in for the fourth.

West Brom, which is three points adrift at the bottom, has now
won just one of its last 21 league games and collected just one
point in six matches since Bryan Robson took over from Gary Megson
six weeks ago.

"We couldn't deal with the strength and pace of Morrison and
Heskey early on in the game. It was just awful defending," Robson
said.

"Now I'm starting to look at the league table and it doesn't lie
with the amount of goals we have conceded. I'm starting to realise
why we have conceded so many goals and it's down to bad play."

Goals by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Joseph-Desire Job and Michael
Reiziger gave Boro all three points against Villa at the Riverside
as Middlesbrough continued its climb towards the top three.